Music for Winds

Program Note

Hoch- und Deutschmeister is one of the most popular marches in the world. It is not widely known in the United States, possibly owing to its scoring, which tends to follow that of traditional German/Austrian regimental bands, including instruments such as Horn in E-flat, Tenorhorns, Fluegelhorns, and others not typically seen in American bands. This edition provides a full score, redistributes some of the parts to more common American Wind Band instrumentation, standardizes the articulations, and clarifies issues of dynamics and phrasing. It is my hope that this wonderful march – easily attainable by even young groups – can find its way into more common and frequent performance usage.

Dominik Ertl (born on 12 April 1857 in Vienna, Austria; died on 4 February 1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Ertl attended the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied violin with Karl Heissler and composition with Anton Bruckner. His involvement with the Band of the Austrian Infantry Regiment Number 4 (better known as the “Hoch-und Deutschmeister Regiment”) led him to write several marches for them, though only Hoch- und Deutschmeister became internationally famous. Despite its enduring popularity, it never actually became the official regimental march of the unit. 

After his tenure with the Army ended, Ertl worked as a conductor in Dresden and Vienna (briefly at the Danzer’s Orpheum), before traveling across Europe with his own orchestra, becoming very popular with the fashionable high society of his native Vienna. His output, little of which survives today, included nearly two hundred couplets, marches, piano works, polkas, and lieder. He is buried in the Hernals district cemetery in Vienna.​